Oklahoma Journeys

Week of January 17, 2009

Al Spencer escapes from the McAlester Penitentiary January 22, 1922.

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Al Spencer, during his career as an outlaw, was one of Oklahoma’s most wanted criminals. Spencer and his gang traveled throughout the northeastern corner of Oklahoma as well as venturing into Kansas and Arkansas, robbing and killing. Spencer’s amazingly long run as a “most wanted” began with his escape from the Oklahoma State Penitentiary. That’s our topic on this week’s Oklahoma Journeys from the Oklahoma History Center.

From the Oklahoma History Center, this is Oklahoma Journeys. I’m Michael Dean.

Ethan Allen Spencer’s career as an outlaw did not follow the path taken by most Oklahoma criminals. Spencer, a husband and a father, was a small time farmer in Nowata County when his involvement in the disappearance of four cows led to his arrest. Up to this time Al Spencer, now in his mid-thirties, was at most a small-time crook, and there is no evidence that he held any grand criminal plans. His actions, however, eventually landed him in the state penitentiary at McAlester in 1920.

While at McAlester Spencer met and became acquainted with some of the biggest names in Oklahoma crime including, among others, Frank Nash and Henry Wells, two long time and prolific outlaws. Under the guidance and tutelage of such experienced criminals Al Spencer gained an education and desire for crime. He met fellow inmates that would later join his gang, and he learned the ins and outs of hold-ups and eluding the police. Spencer eventually earned the position of trustee and was allowed to leave the prison for short periods of time.

In the teens and twenties, security at the state pen was loose, and trustees were allowed to not only work outside the prison but also spend time in town, visit with friends and frequent the various illicit beer joints in the area. It was in this week of 1922, on January 22, that Al Spencer, utilizing his trustee status, made a successful escape from the prison. Fellow prisoners covered for Spencer, and it wasn’t until fifteen hours later that guards realized he was gone. Spencer had obtained two years of “convict education” at the prison and soon put it to good use. Shortly after his escape Spencer gathered a gang and began a crime spree across northeast Oklahoma, the likes of which the state had never seen.

For over a year Al Spencer robbed banks, trains, post-offices, stores and random citizens. Always escaping to the safety of the Osage Hills where rough terrain and friends helped hide the outlaw, he was known at times as the “Osage Phantom” or the “Ghost of the Osage.” The amount of money stolen by Spencer ran into the tens of thousands, and the reckless and brutal nature of his crimes and criminal cohorts resulted in the murders of dozens of police, fellow criminals and innocent by-standers. The towns of Okesa, Fairfax, Grey Horse, Wayside, Barnsdall, Pawhuska, and Bartlesville, as well as towns in Arkansas and Kansas, fell victim to Spencer and his gang. After a crime spree of nearly two years, the Osage Phantom met his demise in a police ambush near Coffeyville, KS.

You can learn more about Al Spencer and the other Oklahoma outlaws by visiting the Oklahoma History Center in Oklahoma City on NE 23rd Street, just east of the state capitol. Oklahoma Journeys is a production of the Oklahoma History Center, dedicated to the collection, preservation, and sharing of our state’s past. I’m Michael Dean.